Events

Labor Department debuts system for filing fee-disclosure complaints

Department of Labor on Monday announced a new online filing system for defined contribution plans seeking fiduciary relief if a service provider doesn't comply with new fee-disclosure regulations, confirmed Michael Trupo, a department spokesman.

“The revised submission procedures should provide plan sponsors a greater level of confidence that their requests for fiduciary relief have been received and will be efficiently processed and reviewed,” said Phyllis C. Borzi, assistant secretary of labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration, in a DOL news release describing the electronic filing.

Sponsors “will be able to use a new online filing system, replacing the option of electronically sending notices to a previously established e-mail address,” the news release said. “The online filing tool will better assist plan sponsors who file electronically by ensuring that all required information is submitted, and providing immediate confirmation that notices have been received by the department.”

The fee-disclosure regulations that took effect July 1 “protect plan sponsors, or other responsible plan fiduciaries, from liability for a breach of their fiduciary duties under ERISA when, without the plan sponsor's knowledge, a service provider fails to comply with the rule's comprehensive disclosure requirements,” the news release said.

Those wishing to file by mail should send documents to a special address rather than the DOL's general mailing address. The special address is: U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, Office of Enforcement, P.O. Box 75296, Washington, DC 20013.